1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and in particular, to an image processing system for executing image processings of an image recorded on a color photographic film after development.
2. Description of the Related Art
Color photographic films, such as a color negative film or a color reversal film, comprise a blue-light-photosensitive layer for forming a yellow dye image due to blue light exposure, a green-light-photosensitive layer for forming a magenta dye image due to green light exposure, and a red-light-photosensitive layer for forming a cyan dye image due to red light exposure.
At the time of photographic processing of a color negative film, a developer is oxidized in the process of reducing silver halide particles containing a latent image into silver, and a dye image is formed by coupling of the oxidized developer and a dye-forming coupler. Conventionally, undeveloped silver halide is eliminated in a fixing process, or an undesirable developed silver image is eliminated in a bleaching process.
Recently, convenience in such photographic processing of a color negative film has been called for more and more strongly. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 6-295035 discloses an image forming method for extracting the image information representing image wise exposure for each of the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color parts from a silver halide color photograph element, that is, from a silver image, without forming a dye image by the black and white development of a color photographic film.
However, an ordinary color photographic film is designed so as to have an image with appropriate color gradation R, G, B transmission densities at the time of normal development. That is, a color photographic film is designed for providing a dye image appropriately, and is not designed for appropriately providing a silver image, which is not to be used originally for image information. Thus, in the case in which a color photographic film is subjected to black and white development or to color development and a silver image or a color image is read, appropriate color reproduction and gradation reproduction are not possible.
Moreover, since the ratio of the dye image and the developed silver differs depending on the type of the film, the exposure level, and the like, the read images cannot be corrected uniformly.
Furthermore, since the reflection density and the transmission density are in a non-linear relationship, in a case in which both reflection reading and transmission reading are used, the gray balance cannot be corrected by a simple correction.
Moreover, the problem of color mixing occurs in the reflection reading due to the influence by the lower layers. Since the extent thereof differs depending on the type of the film, the color mixing cannot be corrected uniformly.
Furthermore, since the concentration of unnecessary substances remaining in a color photographic film after black and white development, the concentration of the silver halide, and the concentration of the anti-halation layer produced by the colloid silver differ in accordance with the type of the film, they cannot be corrected uniformly.
A silver image can be obtained by irradiating a light beam from the front side and the back side of a color negative film, and detecting the light reflected from and the light transmitted through the front side (emulsion surface side) of the color negative film and the back side (base surface side thereof).
However, unlike color paper, an ordinary color photographic film does not contain a layer including titanium oxide or the like having a high reflectance, and thus ordinary color photographic film cannot reflect light efficiently. Therefore, in order to read an image with a high S/N (signal/noise) ratio, a large amount of light should be irradiated onto the film. In particular, in the case of reading reflected light from the base surface side, since the anti-halation layer comprising a colloid silver attenuates the light, an even larger amount of light should be irradiated.
However, in the case in which a large amount of light is irradiated, heat may be generated so as to deform or damage the film, and thus, the amount of irradiated light cannot be increased. Moreover, as compared with a case of reading transmitted light, in reading reflected light, generation of flare and deterioration of sharpness due to the multiple reflections in the layers are conspicuous. Furthermore, the sharpness is deteriorated also due to the color offset caused by the positional offset between a sensor for reading out the reflected light and a sensor for reading out the transmitted light.
Moreover, in this case, the silver image information of the intermediate layer can be obtained by subtracting the silver image information based on the light reflected from the front side and the back side of the color negative film, from the silver image information based on the light transmitted through the color negative film.
However, since the image information of the intermediate layer is obtained by subtracting the silver image information based on the light reflected from the front side and the back side of the color photographic film from the silver image information based on the light transmitted through the color photographic film, appropriate color reproduction is even more difficult to achieve.
The present invention was developed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system capable of appropriately reproducing the color and the gradation of an image recorded on a color photographic film which has been subjected to black and white development.
Moreover, another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system capable of preventing deterioration of sharpness even in cases in which an image is obtained by reflected light and transmitted light of light irradiated onto a color photographic film.
Furthermore, still another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system capable of appropriately obtaining image information of an intermediate layer even in cases in which image information is obtained by reflected light and transmitted light of light irradiated onto a color photographic film.
A first aspect of the present invention is an image processing system for carrying out image processing on an image recorded on a color photographic photosensitive material which has at least three kinds of photographic photosensitive layers containing blue-light-photosensitive, green-light-photosensitive, and red-light-photosensitive silver halide emulsions on a light transmissible supporting member, and which is processed such that a silver image is generated in the photographic photosensitive layers after exposure of an image, said image processing system comprising: a light source for irradiating light to a front side and a back side of the color photographic photosensitive material; a reading sensor for reading image information by light reflected from the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material, and light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material; an exposing device for exposing a predetermined unexposed area of the color photographic photosensitive material by each blue, green, and red light; a calculating device for determining correction conditions for correcting image information of each color on the basis of the lights reflected from the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material in an area exposed by each color and the light transmitted through color photographic photosensitive material; and a correcting device for correcting a read image in accordance with the correction conditions.
The color photographic photosensitive material has at least three types of photographic photosensitive layers containing blue-light-photosensitive, green-light-photosensitive, and red-light-photosensitive silver halide emulsions on a transparent supporting member. After exposing a photographed image on such a color photographic photosensitive material, a black and white developing process or a color developing process is carried out so as to produce a silver image in each photographic photosensitive layer. A light source irradiates a light onto the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material at which the silver images have been formed. As the light source, a light source comprising LED for irradiating light of a wavelength to be reflected by the silver image, such as light of a wavelength in the infrared region (IR light), can be used.
The reading sensor reads the image information based on light which is reflected or transmitted from the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material by irradiating the color photosensitive material with light emitted from the light source. That is, in the case of a color photographic photosensitive material a the blue-light-photosensitive (B) layer, a green-light-photosensitive (G) layer, and a red-light-photosensitive (R) layer laminated in this order, the image of the B layer is read by light reflected by a silver image of the blue-light-photosensitive layer, and the image of the R layer is read by light reflected by a silver image of the red-light-photosensitive layer. The image of the G layer can be obtained by subtracting the image of the R layer and the image of the B layer from the image of the total three layers based on the transmitted light.
The reading sensor may be formed by a front side low resolution sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image information based on light reflected from the front side of the color photographic photosensitive material; a back side low resolution sensor for reading, at a high resolution, reflected image information based on light reflected from the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material; and a high resolution sensor for reading, at a high resolution, transmitted image information based on light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material.
Moreover, the reading sensor may be formed by a common sensor for reading, at a low resolution reflected image information based on reflected from one of the front side and the back side of color photographic photosensitive material, and for reading, at a high resolution, transmitted image information based on light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material; and a low resolution sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image information based on a light beam reflected by another of the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material. By providing the sensor for reading the reflected image information and the transmitted image information as a common sensor, the apparatus can be simplified so as to reduce the cost.
As the low resolution sensor, the high resolution sensor, and the common sensor, for example, an area CCD capable of reading out a frame image of a color photographic photosensitive material at one time or a line CCD capable of reading out an image one line at a time can be used.
The exposing device exposes a predetermined unexposed area of a color photographic photosensitive material by each of blue, green, and red colors, and preferably effects single color exposure (reference exposure) from a low density range to a high density range for each color. As the exposing device, for example, a light source with LEDs for emitting light beams corresponding to each of blue, green and red colors disposed according to a predetermined exposure pattern can be used.
Since the reflected light of the light irradiated onto the front side and the back side of a color photographic photosensitive material is influenced by a lower layer, an appropriate color reproduction cannot be executed as it is.
Therefore, the calculating device calculates correction conditions for correcting, for example, color mixing of the respective colors. Namely, the calculating device determines correction conditions for correcting the image information of each color, on the basis of light reflected from the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material in the area exposed by each color, and light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material. For example, since the R layer is influenced by the B layer and the G layer, color mixing occurs. However, by determining the R layer density and the B layer density in the area single color exposed by G color, the degree of color mixing of the G color in the R layer and the B layer can be obtained. Accordingly, by determining the density of each layer in each single color exposure area, the degree of color mixing in each layer can be known. Therefore, the calculating means determines the density of each color in each single color exposure area, and sets the correction conditions so as to eliminate color mixing in each layer, from the determined density values of each layer in each single color exposure area.
The correcting device corrects the read image according to the correction conditions determined as described above. Accordingly, even in the case of reading out an image recorded on a color photographic photosensitive material which has been processed so as to produce a silver image, color reproduction and gradation reproduction can be realized appropriately regardless of the type of the color photographic photosensitive material, the passage of time, or changes in the developing conditions.
Moreover, the reflection density and the transmission density have, in general, anon-linear relationship. Therefore, in the case of an image in which both reflection density obtained by reflected light and transmission density obtained by transmitted light exist, even if the densities are combined, color reproduction and gradation reproduction may not be carried out appropriately.
Therefore, it is preferable that the calculating device converts the reflection densities obtained by the light reflected by the front side and the rear side of the color photographic photosensitive material to transmission densities. That is, for example, from the reflected light and the transmitted light of the R layer in the R single color exposure area, the conversion characteristics for converting from the reflection density to the transmission density can be determined. Similarly, from the reflected light and the transmitted light of the B layer in the B single color exposure area, the conversion characteristics for converting from the reflection density to the transmission density can be determined. Therefore, by converting the reflection density to the transmission density using the conversion characteristics and by determining the correction conditions on the basis of the transmission densities of the respective layers, even more appropriate color reproduction and gradation reproduction can be realized.
A color photographic film is designed such that a good characteristic can be obtained in the case of normal color developing. In contrast, when a color photographic film which has been subjected to black-and-white development is read by light which is reflected from the front side and the rear surface or light which has passed through the film, there is non-linearity in the characteristic due to various reasons. Specifically, there is non-linearity because the relationship between the reflection density and the transmission density is non-linear as described above, and because the ratio of the concentration of the coloring material and the concentration of silver is not constant.
Thus, in the present invention, the exposing device carries out gray exposure on the predetermined unexposed area of the color photographic photosensitive material, the calculating device further determines the correction conditions for correcting gray balance and contrast based on the light reflected from the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material and the light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material, and the correcting device carries out at least one of non-linearity correction of the read image, gray balance correction of the read image, and contrast correction of the read image in accordance with the correction conditions.
A second aspect of the present invention is an image processing system for carrying out image processing on an image recorded on a color photographic photosensitive material which has at least three types of photographic photosensitive layers containing blue-light-photosensitive, green-light-photosensitive, and red-light-photosensitive silver halide emulsions on a light transmissible supporting member, and which is processed such that a silver image is generated the photographic photosensitive layers after exposure of an image, said image processing system comprising: a light source for irradiating light onto a front side and a back side of the color photographic photosensitive material, and a reading sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image information based on lights reflected from the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material, and for reading, at a high resolution, image information based on a light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material.
The color photographic photosensitive material comprises at least three types of photographic photosensitive layers containing blue-light-photosensitive (B), green-light-photosensitive (G), and red-light-photosensitive (R) silver halide emulsions on a transparent supporting member. After exposing a photographed image on such a color photographic photosensitive material, a black and white developing process or a color developing process is carried out so as to produce a silver image in each photographic photosensitive layer.
A light source irradiates light onto the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material on which the silver images have been formed. As the light source, a light source comprising LEDs for irradiating light of a wavelength to be reflected by a silver image, such as light of a wavelength in the infrared region (IR light), can be used. Furthermore, in a case in which the color photographic photosensitive material is subjected to color development, a light source comprising LEDs for irradiating light of a wavelength to be reflected by a dye image formed on each layer, that is, R light, G light, or B light, can be used.
The reading sensor reads, at a low resolution for example, the reflected image information based on light which is from the light source and which is reflected by the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material. Moreover, the reading sensor reads, at a high resolution for example, the transmitted image information based on transmitted light which is from the light source and which is transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material. That is, in the case of a color photographic photosensitive material with a blue-light-photosensitive layer, a green-light-photosensitive layer, and a red-light-photosensitive layer laminated in this order, the B image information is read by the reading sensor light reflected by a silver image of the blue-light-photosensitive layer, and the R image information is read by the reading sensor by light reflected by silver image of the red-light-photosensitive layer. The G image information can be obtained by subtracting the R image and the B image from the image information of the total three layers based on the transmitted light read by the reading sensor.
The reading sensor may be formed by a front side low resolution sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image reflected image information based on light reflected from the front side of the color photographic photosensitive material; a back side low resolution sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image information based on light reflected from the back side low resolution sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image information based on light reflected form the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material; and a high resolution sensor for reading, at a high resolution transmitted image information based on light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material.
Moreover, the reading sensor may be formed by a common sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image information based on light reflected form one of the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material, and for reading, at a high resolution, transmitted image information based on light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material; and a low resolution sensor for reading, at a low resolution, reflected image information based on a light beam reflected by another of the front side and the back side of the color photographic photosensitive material. By providing the sensor for reading out the reflected image information and the transmitted image information as a common sensor, the apparatus can be simplified so as to reduce the cost.
As the low resolution sensor, the high resolution sensor, and the common sensor, for example, an area CCD capable of reading out a frame image of a color photographic photosensitive material at one time or a line CCD capable of reading out an image one line at a time can be used.
Moreover, reading at a low resolution can be realized by moving the reading sensor in a predetermined direction during the photoelectric conversion by the photoelectric conversion elements by a moving means, in a case in which a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are included in the reading sensor for the photoelectric conversion of reflected light.
That is, in the case the reading sensor includes a plurality of the photoelectric conversion elements for the photoelectric conversion of reflected light, such as photodiodes, and there are gaps between adjacent photoelectric conversion elements, the moving means moves the photoelectric conversion elements in the vertical direction and the lateral direction so as to detect the light irradiated onto these gaps. Accordingly, although the resolution is lowered, there is no need to increase the amount of light to be irradiated, even in the case of the reflection reading.
Furthermore, by executing the reading during moving and not during charge accumulation, high resolution reading can be realized. Therefore, the same sensor can serve as a reading sensor for both transmitted light and reflected light.
Moreover, low resolution reading can be carried out by combining the outputs from the adjacent photoelectric conversion elements.
By combining the outputs from the adjacent photoelectric conversion elements, although the resolution is lowered, the sensitivity can be improved apparently, so that even in the case of reflection reading, there is no need to increase the amount of light which is irradiated.
A third aspect of the present invention is an image processing system for carrying out image processing on an image recorded on a color photographic photosensitive material which has at least three types of photographic photosensitive layers containing blue-light-photosensitive, green-light-photosensitive, and red-light-photosensitive silver halide emulsions on a light transmissible supporting member, and which is processed such that an image including a silver image and a dye image is generated in the photographic photosensitive layers after exposure of an image, said image processing system comprising: a first light source for irradiating an infrared light onto the color photographic photosensitive material such that the infrared light is transmitted through the photographic photosensitive layer of an intermediate layer; a second light source for irradiating, onto the color photographic photosensitive layer, of a color complementary to the dye contained in the image in the photographic photosensitive layer of the intermediate layer such that the complementary color light is transmitted through the intermediate layer; a reading sensor for reading first transmitted image information based on the infrared light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material, as well as second transmitted image information based on the complementary color light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material; and a calculating device for obtaining image information of the intermediate layer by calculation using the second transmitted image information and the first transmitted image information.
A color photographic photosensitive material has at least three types of photographic photosensitive layers containing blue-light-photosensitive (B), green-light-photosensitive(G) and red-light-photosensitive (R) silver halide emulsions on a transparent supporting member. After exposing a photographed image on such a color photographic photosensitive material, a color developing process is carried out so as to produce, a silver image in each photographic photosensitive layer, an image including a silver image and a dye image.
The first light source irradiates infrared light (IR light) onto the emulsion surface side or the supporting member side of the color photographic photosensitive material such that the light is transmitted through the intermediate the photographic photosensitive layer. As the light source a light source formed by LEDs for irradiating IR light can be used. In the case of a color photographic photosensitive material with a blue-light-photosensitive layer, a green-light-photosensitive layer, a red-light-photosensitive layer, and a supporting member laminated in that order, the upper layer is the blue-light-photosensitive layer, the intermediate layer is the green-light-photosensitive layer, and the lower layer is the red-light-photosensitive layer.
A second light source irradiates, on the color photographic photosensitive material, complementary color light of a color complementary to the dye contained in the image in the photographic photosensitive layer of the intermediate layer, such that the complementary color lights is transmitted through the intermediate layer. For example, G light, which is complementary color light to the magenta dye contained in the green layer which is the intermediate layer, is irradiated.
The reading sensor reads the first transmitted image information based on the infrared light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material, as well as reads the second transmitted image information based on the complementary color light transmitted through the color photographic photosensitive material. In a case in which the first light source irradiates IR light and the second light source irradiates G light, the reading sensor can read out the information of the silver image of the total of the three layers based on the transmitted IR light, and can read the dye image of the intermediate layer, (that is, the green-light-photosensitive layer) based on the transmitted G light, and the silver image information of the total of the three layers. As the reading sensor, for example, an area CCD capable of reading out a frame image of the color photographic photosensitive material at one time or a line CCD capable of reading out an image one line at a time can be used.
The calculating means obtains the image information of the intermediate layer (green-light-photosensitive layer), that is, the G image information, by calculation of the second transmitted image information (that is, information of the dye image of the green-light-photosensitive layer), and the silver image information of the total of the three layers, and the first transmitted image information. For example, by subtracting the first transmitted image information from the second transmitted image information, the G image information can be obtained. Since the G image information comprises only the dye image information, as compared with the case of the information comprising only the silver image, information can be obtained with a high accuracy.